Xavier Austin (2008; 2009-)
David Jones-Roberts
Episodes: 4764 - 4768; 4776 -
Parents: Gina Austin
Siblings: Hugo and Brendan Austin
Occupation: Student
Xavier arrived in the bay at a beach party during the schoolies period, where he was seen to dealing drugs. It soon turned out that he was Tony's nephew and that he'd left home and not told his mum where he was going. He sooned formed an attraction with Ruby who decided he was the boy for her. Xavier was soon caught with drugs after leaving his jacket in the Gym where harlie found it. .
Rather than get the police involved Jack called Xaviers mum and sent him back home ending his brief relationship with a heartbroken Ruby.
It wasn't long before Xavier returned to the bay with his Mum Gina, this time for his cousin Jack's funeral. Ruby tried to make an effort with him but he didn't return the kindess and it was soon discovered that he already had a girlfriend called Freya whom his mum dissaproved of greatly.
Ruby persisted in her pursuit of Xavier and he soon decided that Ruby was the girl for him and left a message on Freya's answerphone ending his relationship with her. He and Ruby got drunk together sharing a bottle of champagne that was meant for the christening of Jack and Tony's boat. It wasn't long however before Freya came to town looking for Xavier and he was unable to resist her. He was coerced into selling drugs again from Freya at the school and though he did to start with, Freya increased the pressure and got hold of some 'uppers' but Xavier refused to sell them. She also caused tension between him and Hugo when she planted a kiss on his brither which Xavier saw.
He tried to stand his ground but Freya ended up planting the drugs on him anyway in the hope that he would sell them. He told Freya he had but,he'd actually given her his own money and he hid the drugs in his locker at school. Ruby found them and took them home to get rid of them but was caught by Charlie. Belle named Freya as the supplier and Ruby 'borrowed the money for rent' from Roman and gave the money to Freya on the understanding she would pay them off and leave the bay for good. Freya took the money and ran, leaving Xavier to be beaten up and then to realise that Ruby was right about her all along.
He then recruited Jai to help him win Ruby back with an email but Charlie was unconvinced and wouldn't let them see each other so Xavier went to Hugo for help. Sensing an opportunity to make peace, Hugo talked Charlie down but things between Xavier and his brother were soon tense again when their mum Gina broke her ankle and Brendan, their other brother came to stay. Though he initially tried to hide Brendan from his friends, Ruby and the others were supportive and helped him look after Brendan but his resentment towards Hugo built. With Hugo continually leaving him in charge of Brendan, Xavier snapped and took the opportunity to go to a party after Martha agreed to stay with Brendan.
Brendan freaked out though and ran off. Xavier managed to find him but Brendan freaked out at the sight of a blue car and shot a rock through the windscreen, causing Leah to crash and Roman to be injured. Scared, Xavier tried to cover for Brendan but when Gine returned to town for Tony's wedding, she sussed something was up and the secret came out. Luckily Roman refused to press charges but Hugo was furious to find that Xavier had left Brendan with Martha on the night in question.
Their relationship deteriorated further when an argument over a stick saw Hugo accidentally hurt Brendan. Xavier and Gina didn't believe Hugo that it was an accident but Hugo later had a heart to heart with both his brothers and as Brendan left the bay once more, the brothers were finally on good terms.
With the threat of a shark in the area, and no word from Hugo out on his diving recce, Xavier's concerns for his brother's safety grow. While Martha also had some initial fears, she assures Xavier that Hugo is an experienced diver who can look after himself. Nevertheless Xavier can't shake his concern that something bad is going to happen, and he approaches Alf to use his radio to try to contact Hugo. Unfortunately though, there's no response from Hugo, and in spite of Ruby's support and sympathy, Xavier spends the day feeling helpless and at a loss as to what to do. When Hugo still hasn't turned up that night, Xavier reveals to Ruby that he thinks it might be karma. He explains that ever since Hugo arrived in the Bay, Xavier's been really hard on him. And now when it seems things are finally getting on track...this happens. Xavier worries that he'll never get the chance to tell his brother he's sorry. Later that night, Hugo finally returns from his diving recce bearing a nasty wound on his side. He collapses on the floor of his boat, blood seeping through his shirt.
Xavier was relieved when Hugo recovered from his injuries but soon after Hugo disappeared, uncomfortable about his growing feelings for Martha, and Xavier worried he would have to stay elsewhere. When Hugo returned, Xavier gave him a frosty reception and accused him of never being there for him, prompting Hugo to invite him along to collect a shark cage. The trip however resulted in Xavier being taken hostage by Gardy and having to be rescued by Hugo and Roman. He soon found another target for his hatred when Angelo returned to town. Xavier secretly began slashing Angelo's tyres and, after being pulled over by Angelo for driving without a license and fined, was eventually caught by Hugo. Angelo came across Hugo standing by the car with a knife and, realising Xavier was the culprit, had him charged with criminal damage, despite Hugo already sending him to work on the farm as punishment.
He and Jai found some old guns at the farm and couldn't resist trying one of them out. When the weapon jammed, Xavier accidentally caused it to go off and the bullet grazed Jai. Not wanting anyone to find out about the incident, Xavier gave Jai some amateur first aid and persuaded Ruby and Annie to keep quiet about what happened. When he came across Hugo and Martha kissing, he commented that he knew they liked each other and was happy for them. He still kept quiet about Jai's wound when he and Annie went missing on a school trip, annoying Ruby who took the opportunity to tell him that Charlie was seeing Angelo. Things got worse for Xavier when Trey Palmer, who he and most of the other Summer Bay students had been belittling after he and Jai had confronted him over filming himself having sex with Nicole, planted a bomb under the bus and the explosion ended up injuring Hugo. As a result of spending time at hospital with him, Xavier missed his court appearance and Angelo had to step in and keep him out of trouble.
Ruby asked Xavier to sleep with her on her 16th birthday but when the day came she got cold feet. Xavier made it special for her anyway by telling her he loved her. A few weeks later, they finally slept together at Martha's farm only to be caught by their combined families, with Hugo having to restrain a confused Ross from attacking Xavier. The reason came out when Ruby discovered that Charlie had been raped as a teenager and she was the result. She confided in Xavier and asked to stay with him but Martha and Hugo wouldn't go against Charlie and Xavier wouldn't go against them. He was devastated when Ruby left town without speaking to him.
When she returned, she seemed to spend more time with Geoff and Jai than him, making him feel she was shutting him out and didn't trust him and he was very concerned when he heard she and Geoff had shared a bed while they were away. When he arrived at the house to find Geoff helping Ruby into her dress, he assumed something was going on between them. He was also less than impressed with Gina's new boyfriend Ted. When Ruby continued to avoid him, he assumed they'd broken up and her agreeing to a meal with his family only reassured him slightly. He was even more bemused when she had a go at him for being friendly to Grant until Ruby told him about Charlie kidnapping him. With Brendan staying with the family, Xavier was in two minds about his quasi-romance with Ruby Leeds and desire to move in with her but admitted that Brendan's Ruby probably liked him more than "his" Ruby did.
He was horrified when Ruby broke up with him and accused her of only doing it because she was interested in Geoff; however, he was then knocked unconscious when he tried to break up a fight between Hugo and Derrick and when he came to he told Ruby he couldn't remember the conversation and she played along that they were still together. Ruby asked him to help her give Charlie a false alibi for the night of Grant's murder and he reluctantly did so. He also asked Geoff to stay away from Ruby, saying they would be happy together if he left them alone. When he admitted to Gina that he had lied, she and Hugo persuaded him to retract his statement and he was annoyed that Ruby didn't seem to care he could have gotten into trouble. Although they later sorted out their differences, he still felt she wasn't interested in him anymore.
When Ruby was hospitalised with diabetes, Xavier admitted he did remember her breaking up with him. He and Romeo agreed to help two girls, Ali and Rosie, check out a supposedly haunted house for a Halloween party and found Bambang there, taking him to Martha. When he later found out Ruby was dating Geoff, he kissed Ali in front of her. He then persuaded Romeo to give him the keys to Liam's place so they could hold the party there and as the event descended into chaos he ended up sharing a kiss with Rosie. He struggled to find time to tell the two girls he wasn't interested in either of them and was further thrown when Romeo told him that Gina had started spending time with John Palmer. He endured a nightmare dinner when Ali and Rosie both joined the trio and spent the evening sniping at each other. He got angry with Tony for taking business advice from John and reminded him that Gina cried herself to sleep every night after his father left. Tony told him he needed to let Gina make her own decisions and after he and Gina had talked about his objections he agreed to make an effort with John. He worked with Romeo to try and find a way to rid himself of his two "girlfriends" and was fairly relieved when he then saw Rosie with another guy.
When Suzy turned up and caused trouble between Hugo and Martha, Xavier automatically took Martha's side. Xavier was disgusted when Hugo announced he was leaving town, accusing him of walking out on them again. However, when he began having flashbacks to Hugo and Derrick's fight and the mention of shipping containers, he began to suspect there was more going on and persuaded Alf and Romeo to help him check it out. This resulted in them finding Wayan and the other refugees and he was horrified to realise Hugo had been involved. He was devastated when he heard Hugo had been killed and when Gina refused to show any emotion at the fact. After the funeral, he found a message from Hugo and a box of money in his room, which he asked him to use to make up for what he'd done. He and Romeo attempted to fulfill the wish by donating some of it to the refugees' collection, only for Gina to unknowingly return the donation to the house. Afterwards, he comforted Brendan as the news of Hugo's death sank in for him. He apologised to Geoff and Charlie for what had happened to them as a result of Hugo's actions and subtly tried to give Charlie some of the money.
Xavier was annoyed when Romeo told Mink about the money and she ended up stealing it. After he'd angrily confronted her, she returned it, apologised and then kissed him. Xavier had been getting close to Ruby again after Geoff's departure and was annoyed again when Mink told her about the kiss. He was also cross when she got into an argument with Gina after realising she disapproved of them spending time together, although when Mink apologised to him and Ruby for causing trouble, he realised she was genuine. He was shocked to hear she'd been in juvenile detention and, after getting several versions of events from Romeo and Mink, he eventually learned that she had taken the blame for their mother after she killed Romeo's stepfather. He tried to talk to her after she and Romeo argued and was concerned by how depressed she was. Despite promising to keep quiet about the truth, he ended up telling Ruby and Gina, prompting Mink to accuse him of messing with her life, and was relieved when a talk with Gina seemed to leave Mink happier. His sympathetic attitude also impressed Ruby, who soon got back with him.
Xavier was bothered by Gina's renewed romance with John Palmer, especially when he came home to find them half-dressed. He told Gina he wanted her to be happy but then went to see John and warned him off. Worried about Gina's reaction, he skipped school with Ruby, only to be caught by Martha and forced to work on the farm as punishment. He asked if he could move in with her, then, when Gina tried to get him to apologise to John, he told her to go to hell, which resulted in Gina asking him to move out to Martha's farm. He had trouble hiding Hugo's money from her and Liam, overreacting when Liam moved it into the house, carrying it around in his racksack and nearly being sprung counting it by Liam, and was worried when he overheard Liam saying he thought he was on drugs. He hid the box in the loft and stonewalled Martha's attempts to see it. When Tony offered to teach him boxing, Xavier was less than enthusiastic although he seemed to enjoy his first lesson until Gina interrupted them. He wasn't sure about continuing but Ruby suggested he could use it as a lever with Gina, offering to give it up in return for her breaking up with John. In the end, Gina got in first, telling Xavier he could carry on with the boxing if he moved back in with her and she would keep John away from the house.
Xavier found himself needing somewhere else to hide the money. Ruby was reluctant to keep it at her place and instead they decided to hide it at an old army battery. Xavier went back to the farmhouse to recover it only to find it missing. Martha then called him to the house and gave him the box, saying she wanted him to trust her and promising not to tell anyone about it. He and Ruby went to the battery, only to find evidence someone was already living there, including a photo of Hugo and Xavier. He spent the night in the battery but no-one turned up. When he heard about Vinnie's death being faked, he wondered if Hugo was in witness protection as well and questioned Alf and Angelo, who both tried to put him off. He carried out a second search of the battery with Ruby before having to endure a dinner with Gina and John, during which he struggled to stay polite. He decided to hide the money in a locker at the gym, hiring one out permanently. He also gave Romeo advice about his faltering relationship with Annie while playing the nurse in the Romeo and Juliet production. He was shocked when Martha told him the police were looking for the money (unaware it was actually a story Angelo had made up) and when Gina found out about it he insisted he wanted to use it to help people rather than just hand it over to the police. He shared his theory about Hugo with Martha, who eventually confirmed it was true. He was reunited with a returned Hugo and went to get him some supplies only to run into Angelo. He and Martha then found Hugo with Gina at the house and helped hide him from the police.
With Hugo hiding out at the farm, Xavier continued to visit him but was disappointed by his insistence he would soon have to move on. He was also worried about Ruby spending time with Liam, although he tried to appear supportive, and became increasingly paranoid that they were having an affair. The only bright spark was that John and Gina's relationship seemed to be floundering. When Ruby continually seemed to prefer Liam's company to his, he ended up warning Liam off her but soon had bigger things to worry about when he was abducted by 'Killer' and left tied up in a rapidly filling water barrel, along with Martha and Gina. He managed to get free and then release the others. He advised Hugo that Martha loved him and genuinely wanted to go with him. On his return to school, Ruby admitted she did have feelings for Liam and he broke up with her. He was annoyed when Rachel blamed Hugo for placing them in danger and briefly saw Martha and Hugo at the farm before they went on the run, taking comfort in his certainty they would be happy together.
When he threw some old photos of him and Ruby in the sea, he was accosted by the environmentally minded April and there was an instant spark between the pair. He was furious when he overheard Romeo planning to get John and Gina back together and started a fight with him at school, during which Liam was caught in the crossfire. As well as getting detention, he was roped into helping Tony deliver leaflets about boxing classes as punishment but after April showed an interest in them he offered to be his assistant. After he had dithered over whether to phone April, she ended up coming round to the house herself for a chat and made it clear he was the main reason she wanted to be involved in the boxing classes. He apologised to Liam and when he introduced April to Ruby he assured her he was over her. He and April then helped Tony clear out the shed for the classes.